Harrison is turning 4!

I can't believe my little guy is going to be four years old. He has decided that he wants to do a football themed party this year and thankfully we have a big back yard so we can do lots of sports themed games. I am still searching for fun ideas for the party although I always seem to get overwhelmed with all of the options. I think going one step further with the football theme and making it a VOLS football party will be a lot more fun since we have some die hard UT fans around here. Anyway,here is what I've got so far.

Party Games:
o.k. I figure these are four year old kids so they arent going to want games that are too difficult to play. A friend has corn hole that Im going to ask to borrow and i saw an idea for throwing a football through a hula hoop or a tire. We are also going to borrow a small bounce house that should keep them busy for quite a while.

Food:
I thought we could stick with the whole football concession thing and serve nachos and cheese dip, hot dogs and popcorn. I think our local rental place has a popcorn machine that we can rent to make fresh popcorn. I'm gonna check with chloe's school and see if I can get a stack of the little paper boats that they serve hot dogs in to use for the food. I'm gonna make some orange and white punch. I'm thinking something easy like orange fanta and vanilla ice cream and some yummy orange tea for the adults. We will have cheetos, carrots with ranch, and probably a few other little treats that are orange and white.

Cake:
Harrison decided early on that he wanted a football cake so I'm gonna do an orange dreamsicle cake that looks like a football field. I found a delicious looking recipe that I am gonna tweak just a little bit but I think it will be amazing.

Dreamsicle cake recipe

1 package (18.25 ounces) lemon Supreme cake mix
1 small package  orange jello (3 oz)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon orange extract
1-1/4 cups orange juice
1/4 teaspoon unsweetened orange Kool Aid

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
Place cake mix, jello, oil, eggs, and orange extract in mixingbowl.  Add orange juice and Kool Aid and beat on low  until moistened. Increase to medium and beat a few minutes longer. The batter will be smooth. Pour into pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Don’t overbake.

If the creamcicle cake humps up in the center, when you take it out of the oven, put a folded towel over it and press down with your hands. Viola – a perfectly even cake (what you are doing is pressing the air out).  Let cool while making topping:

Pineapple cream cheese topping for the creamcicle cake.

Beat together:
1 can, about 20 oz, crushed pineapple, drained or not – whatever you like (undrained your frosting will be a little softer – I like that version since it has more flavor)
3 oz cream cheese, softened
3.5 oz package instant vanilla pudding
Then fold in:
8 oz or so thawed whipped topping
Spread on cooled cake and garnish as desired.

If by some turn of events the weather is hot, I think I might make this version as well. 

      

  Orange-Raspberry Dreamsicle Cake

• Recipe Ingredients

•  2 pkg (13 oz each) coconut macaroons (we used Archway)
•  3 cups (1 1⁄2 pt) raspberry sherbet
•  2 pt vanilla ice cream
•  3 cups (1 1⁄2 pt) orange sherbet
•  Garnish: pretty iced cookies Recipe Preparation

 1. Line a 13 x 9 x 2-in. pan with foil, letting foil extend about 2 in. above pan at both ends. Lightly coat with  nonstick spray.
 2. Line bottom of the pan with macaroons; press to flatten and form a layer. Freeze 20 minutes, or until firm. Meanwhile, refrigerate raspberry sherbet and 1 pt vanilla ice cream to soften slightly.
 3. Drop spoonfuls of softened sherbet and ice cream into crust, alternating flavors and packing them down as you go. Freeze 2 hours, or until firm. 
 4. Repeat with orange sherbet and remaining vanilla ice cream. Freeze 30 minutes to set, then swirl surface decoratively. Freeze 6 hours, or until hard, and serve, or wrap airtight and freeze up to 2 weeks.
5. To serve: Lift foil by ends onto cutting board; remove foil. Cut in 9 bars; cut bars in half diagonally to make wedges
Decorations:
This should be super easy. We are gonna stick orange and white pom poms everywhere and hang orange and white streamers from the doorways and over the table with the cake. I may try to print out big football players and tape them to the floor for the kids to color. I'm gonna head to sallys to get some orange and white spray for the kids to put in their hair. We are going to invite all of our guests to wear their orange and white and im going to try to find someone to borrow ref shirts from for monty and I to wear.